Bach sheds light in a impressively dark outing from the Australian Chamber Orchestra

The Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Barbican
© Mark Allan/Barbican

Alexander Melnikov (piano)

Jeroen Berwaerts (trumpet)

Australian Chamber Orchestra

Richard Tognetti (director)

7.30pm, Friday 21 March 2025

Barbican Hall, London

★★★★

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1850): The Musical Offering, BWV1079: Ricercar a 6 (arr. Richard Tognetti (b.1965)

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 in G major, BWV1048

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Piano Concerto no. 1 in C minor for piano, trumpet and string orchestra, Op.35

Encore:

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963): Sonata for Trumpet & Piano, 3rd movement, extract

Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025): Reflections on the theme B-A-C-H, for string quartet (arr. for strings)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op.110a (arr. Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010))

Encore:

Thomas Adès (b.1971): Arcadiana, Op.12 No.6: Albion

Jeroen Berwaerts & the ACO
© Mark Allan/BarbicanBach:Bach:

Bach:

'The Third Brandenburg Concerto had lively pace, brightness and understated dynamics, allowing for joyful interplay of solo lines'. 

Shostakovich:

'All concerned certainly delivered excitement, but also the darker uncertainty that lurks beneath its surface frivolity'.

Hindemith:

'Berwaerts delivered Hindemith’s drawn-out setting with stately solemnity and impressive control, over strangely lilting piano rhythms from Melnikov'.

Gubaidulina:

'The ACO ratcheted it up with searing intensity to a screeching climax, with eery glissandi peppering the route along the way'. 

Alexander Melnikov
© Mark Allan/Barbican

Shostakovich:

'The ensemble here brought intensity and commitment, and the second movement’s wild dance was indeed disturbing'. 

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

CD Reviews - November 2017

The latest release in Chandos’ ‘Music in Exile’ series features chamber works by the Polish-born composer Szymon Laks (1901-1983).  Born in Warsaw, he settled in Paris in his twenties, but was interned and later sent to Auschwitz following the Nazi occupation of France.  There he survived by auditioning as an orchestral musician and then working as a music copyist to avoid the hard labour.  He conducted the Auschwitz orchestra, but in a post-war autobiography wrote about how music was used by the Nazis as an instrument of control, and to indulge the officers’ pretensions.  He survived the war and returned to Paris, where he remained for the rest of his life.  Yet he rarely expressed the trauma of these times in his music, which is often melodious, jazzy and highly engaging. The Canadian ARC Ensemble (Artists of the Royal Conservatory, Toronto) perform here in works for a wide variety of musical forces.  The String Quartet No. 4 of 1962 has a jazzy, quirky feel in its opening movement, a smooth, but darkly eerie central slow movement, and a driving rhythmic finale.  Another quartet follows, but this time a Divertimento for the unusual combination of violin, clarinet, bassoon and piano (it also exists in another version for flute, violin, cello and piano).  Its opening movement is relaxed and expansive, yet still with that quirkiness.  Here the slow movement is mournful, mysterious and wandering, and it is played with beautifully understated tenderness.  The work ends with a twisting, turning dance, given great energy here. The only pre-war work here is a Sonatina for piano from 1927.  It has the same wandering, jazzy harmonies of his later works, with a clear French influence.  Pianist David Louie executes the sliding chromatic harmonies smoothly, and enlivens the skittering scherzino and the wild, swirling dance that finishes the work.  The Concertino for oboe, clarinet and bassoon is more complex and technically challenging, making great use of the three contrasting instruments.  The three players rise to its challenges here, with very precise nagging, bird-like trills in the finale giving this great character.   The Passacaille, in the version for clarinet and piano once again has that meandering, walking pace, with a mournful slow clarinet melody over and almost chorale-like piano.  It builds to a central climax with heavy piano chords and the clarinet reinforcing the melody on top, before a slow decline, finally settling on a major chord to finish.  The most substantial work, the Quintet for piano and strings on Popular Polish Themes, closes the disc.  Another rearrangement from a different work (his String Quartet No. 3), this is a lively and invigorating piece, full of swirling dances, mazurkas and rustic folk melodies, but those jazzy, bluesy harmonies are here too, particularly in the second slow movement.  The stamping dance of the third movement, with quirky pizzicato strings is great fun, surrounding a central delicate mazurka.  The beautifully simple folk melody of the finale, led by the viola, is contrasted with a second more rustic tune, with drone-like underpinning, making a lively conclusion to this enjoyable piece.  The ARC Ensemble players excel here in this fascinating and varied selection of works, well worth exploration.

Laks, S. 2017. Chamber Works. ARC Ensemble. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10983.

Richard Tognetti directs the Australian Chamber Orchestra from the violin, and on this live concert disc, they perform selections from Bach’s The Art of Fugue, and Tognetti’s own arrangement for string orchestra of Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 130, with the famous Grosse Fuge as the final movement.  Bach’s The Art of Fugue had no indication of his intentions in terms of performing forces, and it is unclear whether it was purely an academic, educational exercise.  However, it is unlikely he would ever have envisaged a full chamber orchestra, complete with oboes and horns, and even the voices of the ACO players who discretely join in in the fourth Contrapunctus.  This effect might have worked in live performance, but on disc it is rather too gimmicky to survive repeated listening.  Nevertheless, the fugal lines are presented with great precision, and the overall sound is straightforwardly clear, if rather bass-heavy in places.  Their Beethoven had more to offer, although here there were still balance issues for me, with the bass line dominating in the first movement particularly.  They certainly produce a hefty sound, which worked for some of the time, but their Mahlerian Cavatina, whilst moving, lacked the aching fragility of Beethoven’s original.  The Grosse Fuge had brutal attack, and here the control and energy of the ACO really paid off.   All in all, this is one of those live discs that one possibly had to be there to fully make sense of, but Tognetti and the ACO are to be commended for never playing it safe. 

Various. 2017. Bach, Beethoven - Fugue.  Australian Chamber Orchestra, Richard Tognetti. Compact Disc. ABC Classics 481 4960.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, November 2017)

CD Reviews - December 2016

The Australian Chamber Orchestra are renowned for their lively and exciting live performances, and under their director and lead violinist, Richard Tognetti, they have released a live recording of performances of Mozart’s final three Symphonies, Nos. 39-41, given in Sydney in 2015.  As with all good live recordings, this retains a real sense of energy, and leave you wishing you’d been there.  Tognetti takes the fast movements at a great lick, particularly the finale of No. 39, which has such spark, yet without compromising precision and detail.  Quick tempi in Mozart can sometimes feel too frenetic and breathless, but there is always just enough sense of control here.  The darker moods are also given great presence, particularly in the slow movement of No. 40.  And the still shocking harmonic gear changes in the finale are given enough drama without being overly aggressive.  No. 41’s slow movement is treated with sensitive care and attention, and the finale’s dazzling combination of no fewer than five themes is suitably jubilant. These are impressive Mozart recordings by any account, but with the added spice of their live energy, this makes them worthy of high praise indeed.

Mozart, W. A. 2016. Mozart's Last Symphonies. Richard Tognetti, Australian Chamber Orchestra. Compact Discs (2). ABC Classics 481 2880.

I’ve received two recordings this month featuring Irish pianist Michael McHale.  First of these is in fact a showcase album for fellow Irishman, the percussionist Alex Petcu.  This is a real calling-card selection, with a great variety of styles, as well as a range of percussion instruments.  McHale joins him for Piazonore by Alexej Gerassimez, a short piece for vibraphone and piano, loosely based on Piazzolla’s Libertango theme.  This has great drive, and Gerassimez (another percussionist) blends the piano and vibraphone well.  The Arabesque No. 1 by Debussy also receives a sensitive vibraphone treatment, and then the instrument becomes ethereal and haunting when bowed in Elliot Cole’s Postlude No. 8.  There’s plenty for the marimba too, including some tasteful Bach, and the delightful ‘A Little Prayer’ by the great Evelyn Glennie, here exploiting the instrument’s resonance to create a remarkably sustained sound.  Petcu also performs Steve Reich’s challenging marimba duet, Nagoya Marimbas (with himself!), at a mesmerizing speed.  He is joined by violinist Ioana Petcu-Colan in two pieces, both with folk influences. ‘Yerkinkn Ampel A’ is an arrangement of an Armenian folk song, and the Fugue from Prelude and Fugue by Sam Perkin has Andean influences.  Once again, Petcu blends well with his partner, and Petcu-Colan’s sweet tone complements the marimba timbre effectively. A range of drums and other pitched and non-pitched instruments also feature on the disc, which makes for a highly engaging and interesting programme.

Various. 2016. In Time - Music for Solo Percussion. Alex Petcu, Ioana Petcu-Colan, Michael McHale. Compact Disc. RTÉ lyric fm CD151.

The second disc has Michael McHale centre stage, performing two Irish Piano Concertos, with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Courtney Lewis.  Firstly, he performs the Piano Concerto No. 3 by John Field (1782-1837), the Dublin-born pianist composer who is credited with the ‘invention’ of the Nocturne as a genre piece. The concerto has just two movements, but apparently Field would often insert one of his nocturnes in as a middle movement in performance, and here, McHale himself has arranged the Nocturne No. 2 for piano and orchestra, and it does act as a convincing central movement alongside the Concerto. McHale gives a strong performance, showing particular sensitivity in the fantasia-like section of the opening movement, and relishes the virtuosic display of the final movement.  For the other concerto here, we jump forward to the present day, with Philip Hammond’s (b.1951) Piano Concerto, written for McHale, and premiered by him just last year.  Hammond describes his style here as ‘retro-romanticism’, clearly drawing on the Romantic tradition of the virtuoso concerto.  It is a striking yet accessible work, with a particularly haunting slow middle movement, with relentless rising scales creating intensity and tension, which then explodes into the rapid driving finale. McHale’s energetic virtuosity is ably supported by great precision from the orchestra and Lewis.

Various. 2016. Irish Piano Concertos. Michael McHale, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Courtney Lewis. Compact Disc. RTÉ lyric fm CD150.

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) is a greatly underestimated French composer, and it is a real surprise that his music, which is often lively and full of humour, is not more often heard in the concert hall.  He didn’t restrict himself to any particular prevailing style, and the variety of his output can be seen in this disc of his orchestral works from the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Neeme Järvi.  The rich impressionism of the opening movement of Escales… (‘Rome-Palerme’) stands in great contrast to his eastern influenced use of a solo oboe in ‘Tunis-Nefta’, and again to the Spanish heat of ‘Valence’.  Ibert’s Divertissement is perhaps his best-known work, with its wit and circus-like brass vulgarity and crazy police whistles.  Järvi and the orchestra have fun here, but take a slightly ironic approach, rather than fully letting go to its excesses.  Other gems here include another atmospheric oboe solo in Féerique, alongside the full-on Hollywood-esque celebration of Ouverture de fête.  The Suite symphonique ‘Paris’ is another compilation of incidental music, with Ibert deftly shifting action from the original South American location of a play by Romain, to the busy metropolis of Paris, and Järvi and the OSR bring out all the detail in Ibert’s lush and imaginative orchestration.  If you don’t know his music, then Ibert is definitely worth exploring – and this is the perfect place to start.

Ibert, J. 2016. Neeme Järvi conducts Ibert. Neeme Järvi, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5168.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, December 2016)